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Preface to the First Edition This book is intended as a guide to the sensible use of woodland in New England, to a middle way between overuse of the forest and not using it at all. It is about forest management, and it is meant for the half-million private landowners—those other than forest industries and public agencies— who control more than half of the productive forest land in New England. In New England, forest management means the manipulation of woodland vegetation t o encourage the sustained production o f some combination o f wood, wildlife, mapl e sap , or scenery . Timber productio n i s th e most familiar goal , but it is only one of many alternatives for forest man agement . A forest does not need to be managed. What i s "best" for the forest has meaning onl y i n relatio n t o some huma n use . It i s of no benefit t o th e forest i f "poor" trees are removed t o encourage th e "good" residuals; the quality o f trees i s a huma n judgmen t abou t thei r utilit y fo r lumbe r o r some other product. Habitat management t o encourage game birds is not best for the birds; it is best for the bird hunter. Nor does a forest need management to produce forest products. Despite two centuries of bankrupt land-use and timber cutting practices, which are still widespread, the New England wood s continue t o yield lumber , fuel , sap, and game. Now, however, at the end o f the twentieth century , there i s mounting concern in New England and the world about the quantity and quality of forest products and amenities: doubts that they can be produced a t a rate that wil l fil l a n ever-increasin g consume r demand . Surel y tha t deman d will have to be tempered wit h conservation . Management o f the private forest resourc e i s the only othe r practica l measur e tha t ca n significantl y increase the supply of high-quality fores t products in New England, and the capacity of a forest acre to yield a variety of benefits. xvi Prefac e to the First Edition We hope this book helps to ensure that thos e landowners who decide against woodland managemen t d o so not because of lack of informatio n on th e purposes, processes, economics, and impact s of sound fores t prac tices . Although the decision not to manage is a legitimate one and has advantages , it is best made with a n understandin g o f the benefits foregone , and of the tolerance of the forest ecosystem for human manipulation . In considering the growing demand fo r the resources they control, and the intensifyin g pressur e of the cost of living, most forest owner s in New England ar e awakening to the economic values of their woodlands. Our concern in writing this book is that, as the forests are used more intensively, they are used sensibly; that landowners are prepared to make a prudent response to the demands for the resources of their woodlands. Sensible us e of the forest i s an acknowledgmen t tha t we have become part of the forest's ecology . After tw o hundred year s of extensive logging, farming, and hunting, human activity has rivaled the importance of weather , disease, and fire in shaping the character and composition of the New England woods . Sustainable us e of the forest t o meet unprecedente d de mand fo r its products is only possible through practices that imitate those natural forces . Timber harvestin g ca n mimi c the way wind flatten s scat tered patches of forest, or the way age and disease can select single trees. We can grow trees by accelerating their natural forest life cycles with a series of careful thinnings . Logging erosion, largely the result of poorly constructed wood s roads , ca n b e minimize d b y followin g th e exampl e o f wildlife trails, which consistently (though not consciously) follow hillsid e contours. Wildlife habitat can be improved in quality and quantity if tree harvesting takes the place of forest fires in keeping the forest in a pattern of young and old trees. Forest landowners will encounter the demand fo r their forest resources in...

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